Solar Energy On A Shoestring Budget

This is a book about a small off-grid solar energy system on a minimal budget, intended to be expandable to run the whole house, but it can be expanded on a monthly basis for very little money each month, perhaps as low as $200 per month or less. We discuss the basics of how it works and goes together. We discuss the structure to hold the parts, with photos and diagrams and a list of suppliers . More

This is a book about installing a small solar energy system on a minimal budget. It is an off-grid system, intended to be expandable to run the whole house when enough solar panels and batteries have been added, but it can be expanded on a monthly basis for very little money each month, perhaps as low as $200 per month, depending on the quality of batteries you buy--and considerably less than that if you have a source for used golf-cart or fork-lift batteries, or perhaps even automotive batteries, as long as you are prepared to replace them soon. We discuss the basics of solar energy, how it works, and how it all goes together, and we discuss the building of a suitable structure to hold the parts. We devised a very inexpensive system to mount the panels to the structure, and we tell you how to do that, and why you may or may not want to use this system, which requires access to the underside of the roof. We discuss the life of the system, and how much money should be set aside each month for replacement items, and how you can set aside more than that, so that the replacement fund can be self-sustaining in the future. We include diagrams and photos where necessary, and a list of suppliers in the appendix. We discuss series and parallel circuits, and how to choose what voltage your system should be, and other decisions which should be made early in the process. The regular price is $4.99, with a pre-release price of $2.99.

Jay Hamilton was a freelance photojournalist specializing in motorsports, through most of the 1970s. His work was published in national magazines such as "Cycle Guide" and "Modern Cycle" as well as smaller publications. He had his own darkroom where he processed black and white as well as color photographs, and color slides as well. He still enjoys riding his motorcycles, though he drives a mini van these days, instead of a collection of Bug Eye Sprites that he no longer owns. His collection now is limited to a Chrysler Town and Country, a Honda Shadow 750, a Honda CL-360 from the 1970s and a 1982 Honda Civic Wagovan. He uses digital cameras these days, and would love to have one of those new Lumia 950 phones with the 20 megapixel camera built in. He is a bit of a computer nerd, but does not have the funds to own any real mega computers, though he does have a Galaxy Tab S 8.4" high def tablet, which fits in his pocket and largely takes the place of his Gateway laptop, and an old P4 desktop that he built from scratch. He likes dogs, and very much loved his Chocolate Lab puppy that was dognapped from his home one Sunday morning a couple of years ago. He is looking for a replacement. He also has several Calico cats. He is working on a solar installation to reduce electric costs, and has a Champion 3500 watt generator wired into his power pole through a breaker, so he can manually switch between the power utility and his own power. He is an avid gardener as well. Like the rest of us at Crossroads Publishing, he hopes the sale of his books will supplement the meager check he gets from Social Security (being a freelance photojournalist is not conducive to having a large Social Security check.) He is a hopeless liberal, not at all happy with Republicans, but not fond of Obama either. He fully expects to live well past the age of 90, and is in very good health, and doesn't look anywhere near his real age, which he refuses to disclose.... And yes, he is still single, and expects to remain so.